U.S. sinks 6 small Iranian boats in Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM says

0:00 Let's get right to [music] that breaking news.

0:01 Iranian state media claiming the country struck an American

0:04 vessel that was headed towards the straight of Hormuz,

0:06 but the US military is pushing back on that claim.

0:10 So, here's what we know at this hour.

0:11 US Central Command says no US Navy ships took any hits

0:16 and that US forces support a new mission that's called Project Freedom.

0:20 Now, President Donald Trump announced that new plan over the weekend.

0:24 And here's what we know about that.

0:25 He's saying the American military guides ships through

0:28 the straight and anyone who interferes with the humanitarian process,

0:32 as he calls it, faces being dealt with forcefully.

0:35 So, let's go live to CBS News national security contributor Aaron McClean.

0:39 Okay, so Aaron, right off the top, let's get to that bit of breaking news

0:42 that we referenced there at the top of the broadcast.

0:44 Our peers at the Associated Press right now are reporting

0:47 that US military helicopters have sunk some six Iranian boats.

0:51 What can you tell us about that?

0:53 Well, it looks to me as though the battle of Hormuz has begun.

0:57 This is something that we've been contemplating as a possibility

1:00 really since the start of this war on February the 28th.

1:03 The Iranians closed the street of Hormuz shortly thereafter,

1:06 cutting off about 10% of all global maritime

1:08 traffic and 20% of the world's oil traffic.

1:11 The president has tried through negotiations and threats

1:14 to get the Iranians essentially to open it.

1:17 Last night, he announced that this Project Freedom was

1:19 going to be an American effort to begin opening it.

1:21 and the the Iranians have retaliated.

1:23 So now it's a political decision.

1:25 Will this conflict in the strait itself lead the Trump administration

1:29 to suspending the ceasefire overall and returning to war more broadly?

1:33 That's what we don't know yet.

1:34 It's certainly a fire going on right now.

1:35 We're understanding that all of those Iranian boats were sunk

1:38 by Apache and Seahawk helicopters according to this breaking news.

1:43 Uh we understand also that Iran has used cruise missiles, drones,

1:46 and small boats to try to disrupt things there in the strait.

1:50 Are you seeing the emerging firepower and let let us know

1:53 and let our viewers know what kind of firepower the Iranian forces face?

1:57 Well, they have these small boats.

1:58 They have mines as well and they retain a pretty substantial stock

2:01 of cruise missiles um ballistic missiles and drones with which for example

2:06 they can hit the United Arab Emirates which apparently they have

2:08 been doing for the last several hours in a pretty sustained fashion.

2:11 So they have some capabilities and look those capabilities

2:14 are certainly enough to harass shipping in the straight.

2:17 If you're sailing a commercial ship through the straight,

2:19 getting machine gun from a small boat is is definitely

2:22 bad for crew morale and enough to give you second thoughts.

2:24 But I don't advise taking one of those small boats

2:27 into a tangle with a United States Navy guided missile destroyer,

2:30 let alone our aviation assets.

2:32 It's going to end badly for you as it

2:34 has ended badly for these six boats reportedly.

2:37 Lots of Davids out there on the water

2:39 to the major Goliath of US military force out there.

2:42 And I would imagine that commanders have some red lines.

2:46 Do you anticipate for our viewers what some of those red

2:48 lines could be as we look at this battle in the Strait?

2:51 Well, you know, the red line that's most of interest to me is is what is

2:55 the line in President Trump's head um that has

2:57 to be crossed before he considers the ceasefire over.

3:01 Um you know, we've had no reports of American

3:03 casualties or even of American ships getting struck today.

3:06 Not just the naval vessels,

3:07 but also apparently the two American merchant

3:09 vessels that made it out through the straight

3:11 over the course of the last 24 hours as a part of Project Freedom.

3:14 Is an American getting killed or an American

3:17 vessel actually getting struck the end of the ceasefire?

3:20 Is the UAE getting hit enough?

3:22 Is the Iranian attempted interference enough?

3:24 These these are the questions on my mind right now and I

3:26 think the next few hours even are going to be extremely extremely decisive.

3:30 Right.

3:30 And I think that's important because people need to stay tuned to CBS News 247.

3:34 We're going to have all of the breaking news as this happens.

3:38 Give our viewers some sense of who's out there on the water.

3:40 This is not just these Iranian small boats and the US.

3:44 There are other people who are trying to navigate in the strait.

3:47 Gosh, there's there's um I I believe it's

3:49 a I mean it's hundreds if not thousands

3:52 of of major commercial ships who are bottled

3:55 up in the Persian Gulf laden with various cargos,

3:58 whether it's oil or other things that have been

4:00 essentially trapped in there since the beginning of March.

4:03 You've seen some efforts to run the blockade,

4:05 the Iranian blockade of the strait.

4:07 You've also seen some vessels coordinate with Iran,

4:09 presumably pay a fine to get out, but the vast majority are stuck in there,

4:12 not to mention all the ships that would like to get

4:14 in there to pick up more cargo should commercial traffic be restored.

4:18 So, it's a it's a crowd.

4:19 Um, it's a major problem for the global economy.

4:22 It's also a major problem for the American economy.

4:25 Gas prices are already elevated.

4:26 We can anticipate they'll go higher if the straight remains closed.

4:29 Um, there [snorts] was an interesting report just

4:31 over the last 24 hours uh on the effects

4:33 of the fact that America gets 10% of its aluminum from the straight of Hormuz.

4:36 So, I don't know if you were planning on buying a Ford F-150 anytime soon,

4:39 but those are made of aluminum.

4:41 There's all kinds of strange effects that will

4:43 come from the straight continuing to be closed,

4:45 which is why it makes sense that the administration

4:47 is beginning to attempt to force it open, and the Iranians do not like that.

4:51 It's a bottleneck and a boiling point.

4:52 Aaron McClean, always great to talk to you.

4:54 We anticipate we'll be bringing you back a lot as we

4:57 watch these developing news items out of the Street Four moves.

5:00 Thank you so much.

5:01 Uh, Robert Murett is a retired vice admiral.

5:04 He is joining us right now.

5:06 served the US Navy, currently deputy director

5:08 of Syracuse University's Institute for Security Policy and Law.

5:12 That's a big title.

5:13 First of all, right off the top, thank you so much for your legacy of service.

5:17 Uh your reaction to this breaking news

5:18 about our military sinking those Iranian boats.

5:21 Yeah, Ray, you know, Aaron captured it pretty well, I think.

5:24 I mean, this is a rapidly unfolding situation.

5:26 I mean, just what we've seen the last

5:27 couple three hours has been fairly significant

5:30 with attacks on both sides by Iran and by us trying to protect the ships,

5:35 the two that we escorted and a couple

5:37 of destroyers that we had going through the straits.

5:40 Um, a lot of takeaways from it.

5:42 I mean, the first is the fact that um the both sides, I mean,

5:47 the Iranians in fact even announced after uh I think just about

5:50 an hour or so ago that they they still wanted to control the straits.

5:53 There's a lot of uh concerns from all

5:55 the ships that are still bottled up in there.

5:57 One of the other things, Reed, which we also just saw,

5:59 is that one of the major shipping companies made

6:02 an announcement that their uh risk assessment hasn't changed

6:04 and they're not going to allow their ships

6:06 to go through the straits based on the current situation.

6:08 So, it's pretty volatile and as Aaron was saying,

6:11 the next next several hours and the overnight is important, too.

6:15 And just a final comment, it's getting dark over there right now.

6:17 I'm sure you know it's about eight hours ahead of us.

6:19 So what happens tonight over on the streets of Rome will be critical.

6:23 Well, [snorts] as somebody who has a military background,

6:26 if you're in the room and you're advising those who are making

6:28 these critical decisions that affect the lives of our men and women in service,

6:32 what kind of advice do you give them

6:34 with these tensions now at a boiling point there?

6:37 Well, I think the Sencom commander is doing a great

6:39 job of that and having the escort, the capability.

6:43 I'm sure the destroyers that did the transit were looking after the two

6:47 ships which are escorted out of there were general quarters of the whole time.

6:50 They're very capable of defending themselves and the air cover that they have

6:54 in addition uh you know some of the reports have said a couple

6:57 of the assets may have been rotary wings shorebased or sea based

7:01 and I'm sure [clears throat and snorts] there's some additional air cover there.

7:03 So I think you know the advice that we have

7:04 is to make sure that we have all the protection

7:06 for the units that are in there and at the same

7:09 time uh from a uh you know calculated standpoint uh

7:13 that we are engaging as we need to the the six

7:17 Iranian ships that were just reported within the last

7:19 hour or so and defending whatever units that we need

7:22 to escort to the uh or protect going through the streets.

7:25 For our viewers just joining us right now,

7:27 we're getting that breaking news that the US uh through

7:30 some military helicopters has sunk about six small Iranian boats.

7:34 Robert Mur, thank you so much for your wisdom

7:37 and your background on this story as it develops.

7:40 Let's go to the White House now and CBS News Aaron Navaro.

7:43 So Aaron, what does this mean in terms

7:45 of getting people to the table for a ceasefire?

7:49 Reed, if you ask the head of US Central Command, Brad Cooper,

7:54 what it means, he says at this moment, he doesn't know.

7:57 And that's what he was asked and that's what

7:59 he answered at a press conference just this hour.

8:02 He said he would not go into details on if the ceasefire is over or not,

8:05 and that SenCom and the US military is merely there as a defensive force.

8:10 Some other notes on this breaking news that we've gotten

8:13 about six Iranian small boats that were sunk by US helicopters.

8:17 Uh Cooper told reporter reporters that Iran had used cruise missiles,

8:22 drones and small boats to try and disrupt the mission

8:25 of project freedom of escorting uh ships that have been

8:29 stranded in the straight of Hormuz from countries that were

8:32 not involved in this war that President Trump announced began today.

8:36 Uh he also added that no US flagged ships or US warships have been hit.

8:42 And just to get to project freedom

8:44 uh which President Trump announced this past weekend,

8:46 the reasoning at least in truth social in a long post that he

8:50 framed it as uh was that it came at the request of countries

8:53 who were not involved with this war uh and that it was to help

8:57 ships that were maybe running out of food or running into unsanitary conditions.

9:02 He said that it would be a humanitarian gesture on behalf of Iran.

9:06 But as we're seeing today, Iran uh disagrees with this operation.

9:11 They've said so in many recent posts and we're

9:14 seeing throughout the day uh through their actions as well.

9:18 Well, we know of course the intention has

9:20 been to get uh President Trump's special envoy,

9:22 his son-in-law, and others over there to continue peace talks.

9:26 With this new and breaking developing news about

9:29 the US helicopters uh sinking some Iranian ships,

9:33 are there any other voices in the room other

9:35 than the ones that have been having these conversations?

9:39 Well, we know that one newer addition to the team with Jared Kushner and special

9:44 envoy Steve Witco is lobbyist Nick Stewart

9:47 who is supporting them as a policy expert.

9:50 He actually traveled with them uh during their last trip

9:52 to Pakistan where Vice President Vance also attended uh sometime in April.

9:57 Uh and he is listed in doing several

10:00 lobbying uh gigs uh regarding Iranian and Russian sanctions.

10:05 But in terms of the negotiations themselves uh last week,

10:08 President Trump said that most of this is happening over the phone.

10:11 He doesn't feel the need to be sending a US delegation all

10:14 the way to Pakistan to Islamabad to hear a proposal that he won't like.

10:18 We know that there is a 14-point proposal that Iran proposed last

10:22 weekend which looked to end the war

10:24 completely instead of extending the ceasefire.

10:27 It also sets a 30-day window for the two countries to resolve any issues.

10:32 President Trump did not seem too optimistic about it, saying he's studying it,

10:36 uh but he's unsure if he can make a deal with Iran,

10:39 citing some of the actions that they've had uh stemming

10:42 back from their response to protesters uh in the country.

10:46 Uh there have also been reports that the US recently sent

10:49 a counter proposal to Iran and that Iran is currently reviewing that.

10:54 We will see if this latest escalation

10:56 in the straight of Hormuz impacts any of those negotiations.

10:59 Aaron Navaro following all these breaking details as we learn

11:02 the US military helicopters have sunk six Iranian small boats out there.

11:06 Thank you so much.